happy easter day

In the year 2010 Easter Sunday celebrations will be on:

Sunday 4th April 2010

The 2010 Easter Date applies to the western calendar (Catholic and Protestant Churches), and also to the The Eastern Orthodox church. This is an unusual event since the two branches of Christianity have different methods for calculating the correct date for Easter. There are only a few years each century when the Easter dates match like this so Easter 2010 is seen as extra special.

Why does the Easter date move every year?

in the year 325AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine got the early Christian leaders together at Nicea to fix matters of doctrine and dates of important Christian events such as Easter. They chose the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; (as opposed to Christmas day which they fixed as 25th December).

Why are there usually two dates for Easter Sunday?

Not all early Christians attended the council of Nicea or agreed with the results. The Eastern Orthodox church is the largest of the groups who chose a different criteria for determining Easter. In years past people fought and died over the 'correct' date of Easter. Thankfully we have grown up a bit since then and differences such as this are not considered important.

Other good Easter resources on this website include Easter related articles covering eggs, bunnies and all things to do at easter plus gifts for the easter holidays and facts about the history of the Easter festival.